Street-sweeper



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. MUELLER, Jr. STREET SWEEPER.

No. 532,176.. Patented Jan. 8, 1895.

mrlml g lnm @51 7(11) fitter/14 01 9 14: NORRIS verzns coJHoTo-Lnnm. WASHINGTON a c.

(No Model.) r 4 sneak-sheet 3.' H. MUELLER, Jr.

. STREET SWEEPER. No. 532,176. Patented Jan. 8, 1895.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4. H. MUELLER, Jr. STREET SWBEPER No. 532,176. Patented Jan. 8, 1895.

fiEF b lr l l lm-lir b :illl.

' a'nwwtoa 111/27? 1 e ZZega-fi? 327% 5 I d a cho awa THE uonms PETERS cu, wnbfournou wisnmsmm mc.

- NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY MUELLER, JR., OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

STREET-SWEEPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,176, dated January 8, 1895.

Application filed July 30, 1894. Serial No. 518,928. (No model.)

To all whom it mayconcern:

Be it known that I, HENRY MUELLER, J r., of the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gutter-Brooms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

Myinvention has relation to improvements in gutter brooms and consists in the novel arrangement and combination of parts more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a section on the line a:x of Fig. 1 showing the details of one of the supporting standards. Fig. 4 is a section on line 'y 2 of Fig. 1 showing details of the main standard. Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of a portion of the sprocket chain with clamping strip for the broom material secured to one of its links. Fig. 6 is a section on line zz of Fig. 3 showing one of the brackets for the adjustable or movable standard; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of the rear of the machine showing a second or tail broom attached.

The object of my invention is to construct a gutter broom to be used in advance of a street sweeping machine proper, the present device contemplating aconstruction which will be efiective, one wherein the broom can be adjusted to and from the ground at will, one that can be readily manipulated by the operator and which is not liable to get out of order. t

To this end I have devised a broom which in detail may be described as follows:

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a frame having the front wheels 2 and the driving wheels 3 in alignment with the front wheels. The wheels 3 are loose on their shaft 4 and to the hub of one of them is secured a gear wheel 5 which meshes with a pinion 6 mounted on a shaft 7 having bearings at 8 in the frame 1. The pinion 6 is secured to the shaft 7 by a feather 9 it being possible by this arrangement to disengage the pinion 6. from the gear wheel 5, by shifting the said pinion along the feather to the projecting end of the shaft. Secured to the shaft 7 within the frame is a large sprocket wheel 10 over which passes a sprocket chain 11 engaging with a smaller sprocket wheel 12 on a terminal transverse shaft 13 mounted on the frame within suitable bearings. The outer projecting-end of the shaft 13 carries a bevel gear wheel 14 which engages with a bevel gear wheel 15 mounted within a supporting standard 16 bolted to the side of one end of the frame 1. As seen in Fig. 2 and in section in Fig. 4, the bevel gear wheel 15 .is permitted to rotate in a horizontal plane, but is fixed with reference to any vertical movement, being mounted within a circular bearing 17 embracing the annular depression 18 formed between the lower flange 19 and-the head 20 of the gear Wheel. Through the bevel gear wheel 15 passes a hollow shaft 21 secured to the gear wheel by the feather 22 and thus turning with it when the gear wheel is rotated. The hollow shaft extends a suitable distance downward being steadied at a suitable point by a bearing 23 at the end of the depending arms 2 1 forming a part of the standard 16.

The upper end of the hollow shaft 21 has flanges 25and 26, between which engages the circular supporting surface of a spider 27 whose'dia'metrically extending arms 28 and 29 operate or move vertically in a slot 30 in the standard 16. Through the hollow shaft 21 passes a stem 31 carrying ahead 32 at its lower end which head forms the bearing surface for the lower end of the hollow shaft. The upper end of the stem3lis screw-threaded said screw-threaded end projecting out from the standard 16; and passing through an interiorly screw-threaded collar 33 to which is secured a sprocket wheel 34:. An annular plate 35 bolted to the top of the standard 16 secures the collar 33 in place on top of the standard, said plate overlapping the flange 36 of said collar loosely so as to permit the latter tobe turned.

It is obvious that upon rotation of the wheel 34: in one direction or the'other, the stem 31 can be either raised or depressed, thus raising or lowering the hollow shaft 21, but permit- IOO standard on a bracket 46 projecting from one side of the frame between the front wheels 2 and drivingwheels 3, and the strips 45 serving to prevent any upward displacement of the standard by coming in contact with the lower surface of a second aligningbracket 47.

A pair of superposed screw-threaded bolts 48 extend from the solid middle portion of the standard outwardly through the sides of the brackets 46 and 47 respectively, terminating in adjusting nuts 50. It is obvious that by turning the nuts in proper direction the standard 40 will move bodily between the castings or brackets 46 and 47, thus being susceptible of horizontal adjustment.

After the sprocket chain 37 has passed the sprocket wheel 38 it passes around a thirdsprocket wheel 51 mounted on top of a vertical shaft 52 to which is secured a hand wheel 53, the shaft 52 being supported at either end in the bearings of the right'angular supporting bracket 54' located on top of the frame. By operating the hand wheel 53 itis obvious that the sprocket wheel 38 and sprocket wheel 34 will be operated simultaneously, these in turn operating the collars 39 and 33, and these by their action on the stems 43 and 31 will control the elevations of the latter and hence of the hollow shafts 41 and 21 supported by them. As seen from Figs. land 2 (but omitted from Fig. 4) the lower end of the hollow shaft 21 has secured thereto a superposed aligning pair of sprocket wheels 54 and 55, and the shaft 41 has a corresponding pair 56 and 57. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) The sprocket wheels 54 and 56 are connected by thesprocket chain 58 and the sprocket wheels 55 and 57 by the chain 59. It will therefore be seen that the lower ends of the shafts 21 and 41 are'connected by the sprocket chains 58 and 59, and the upper ends of their respective stems 31 and 43 are connected by the sprocket chain 37, the latter also passing around the gearwheel 51 of the hand wheel. To keep these respective chains simultaneously in proper tension, it is only necessary to adjust in the proper direction the standard 40 by means of the adjusting nuts 50 at the ends of the bolts 48.

The links of the chains 58 and 59 are in vertical alignment and to every other link of each chain is pivotally secured from projecting cars 71 a clamping strip 60 between each aligning pair of which is inserted the ends of each individual broom 61, when the free end of each clamping strip is secured bya bolt 62 to as the chains revolve the brooms operate on Y the surface of the ground with which they come in contact.

As the machine advances motion will be imparted to the endless chains 58 and 59 carrying the brooms in the direction as shown by the arrow in Fig. 1, the respective chains and also the chain 37 being kept in proper adjustment and tension by the proper adjustment of the movable standard 40 as above explained. The endless broom too is kept in proper contact against the ground by operating the hand wheel 53 in proper direction, thus turning the sprocket wheels 34 and 38, thus elevating or depressing the stems 31 and 43 which support the shafts 21 and 41 which carry the endless brooms. By this arrangement too the brooms can be raised above the ground when not sweeping. In practice it is desirable that the foward portion of the endless broom should sweep the ground, that is that portion along which the arrow is indicated in Fig. 1, and that the rear portion should be raised just a trifle above the ground. For this purpose the standards 16 and 40 are tilted a fraction of an inch from the perpendicular to accomplish this purpose; but this tilting is so slight that it would not be apparent fromthe drawings.

It often happens that the first or main broom just described leaves a streak of dirt after it has done its work, in which case I attach to the frame a second or tail broom chain 63 as best shown in Fig. 7, at an angle to the first broom,

.this second broom chain being operated by sprocket wheels 64 and 65 mounted respectively to the shafts 66.and 67 having bearings in an extension of the frame 1 proper. Motion is imparted to the shafts 66 and 67 by means of the sprocket wheel 68, sprocket chain 69 and sprocket wheel 70 which latter is secured to or forms a part of the bevel gear wheel 15. No provision is here shown for varying the elevation of the tail broom although it might be done similarly to the manner described in connection with the main broom. When the machine is not to be used the pinion 6 is simply uncoupled from the gear wheel 5. The wheels 2 and 3 being in alignment, the projecting end of the main broom as it passes over the sprockets 56 and 57, as well as the brackets 46 and 47 are protected against being accidentally struck by objects in the street, the frontwheels acting as guides for the machine.

The operation has already been described in passing and so need not be reviewed at this time.

Having described my invention, what I claim isa 1. In a gutter broom, a suitable standard, a hollow bevel gear wheel mounted in the same and adapted to rotate in a horizontal IIO plane, a feathered hollow shaft passing through the bevel gear wheel, sprocket wheels carried by the lower end of the shaft, a supporting spider, for the upper portion of the shaft, arms for said spider, suitable vertical slots in the standard for the guiding of said arms, a screw-threaded stem passing through the hollow shaft and projecting above the standard and having a lower terminal head for supporting the shaft, an interiorly screwthreaded collar embracing the screw-threaded end of the stem, a retaining plate for said collar mounted on top of the standard, and a sprocket wheel secured to the collar, substantially as set forth.

2. In a gutter broom, a suitable adjustable or movable standard, superposed brackets forv the same, supporting strips secured to the standard and resting on the upper bracket, guide stripssecured to the standard and cooperating with the lower surface of the lower standard, screw-threaded bolts extending from the standard through one side of each bracket, and adjusting nuts on the ends of said bolts, substantially as set forth.

3. In a gutter broom, a suitable frame, standards mounted on said frame, vertically adjustable shafts carried by the standards,

sprocket wheels carried by the lower ends of the shafts, suitable vertically moving stems for adjusting the elevation of the shafts, sprocket wheels at the upper ends of said standards for moving said stems, a hand suitable broom carrying chain connecting the sprocket wheels secured to the shafts, substantially as set forth.

4. A gutter broom composed of an adjacent pair of superposed traveling endless chains, aligning clamping strips secured to each chain, and an individual broom secured to the chains by each aligning pair of clamping strips for giving rigidity to the broom, substantially as set forth.

5. An endless broom comprising two superposed endless sprocket chains, sprocket wheels for said chains, a clamping strip pivotally secured to each of the links of each chain, the strips of one chain being in alignment with or superposed over the corresponding strips of the other chain, a suitable broom secured between each clamping strip and the link of the chain, and means for securing the free end of the clamping strip to the farther end of each link, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY MUELLER, J R.

Witnesses:

JAMES J. ODoNoHoE, EMIL STAREK. 

